Contents

Chapter 100

Naruto begins the fight by creating a few shadow clones. Neji easily defeats them all despite the fact that the clones attack from his blindspot. Neji tells him to give up, since, as he explains it, Naruto was fated at birth to fail while he was destined for greatness. Naruto attacks again with even more shadow clones, but Neji ignores them, noticing that one Naruto is staying out of Neji's reach. Assuming that this is the real Naruto, Neji attacks him. The Naruto disperses while the real Naruto attacks Neji from behind, having hidden amongst his shadow clones.

Chapter 101

Naruto manages to punch Neji, but Neji deflects the attack with his Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven. Combining his Byakugan's 360° vision with his ability to emit chakra from any part of his body, Neji is virtually impervious to attack. Hiashi Hyūga, the head of the Hyūga clan, is amazed that Neji, a member of the clan's branch house, can perform this technique and at such a young age. He is even more amazed when Neji attacks Naruto with the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms. Naruto's chakra is sealed off but he refuses to give up, unwilling to lose to someone who believes in "failure". Hinata's concern for Naruto and the injuries she earlier received from Neji cause her to start coughing up blood. An Anbu offers to help her.

Chapter 102

As a Anbu tends to Hinata, Neji explains the cruel background of the Hyūga clan by first revealing the cursed seal on his forehead. When Hinata, the Hyūga heiress, turned three, Neji received the cursed seal to bind him to a life as her protector. Because Neji had much more natural talent than Hinata, his father, Hizashi, also a member of the branch house, came to resent this denial of Neji's potential. Soon afterwards, when Hiashi, head of the Hyūga clan and Hinata's father, killed a Kumogakure ninja that tried to kidnap Hinata. Hizashi, Hiashi's twin brother, was given to Kumogakure as a body double to ease relations between Kumo and Konoha. Neji concludes that his father was brought into the world so that he could die for the main branch's benefit.

Chapter 103

The Anbu healing Hinata finishes and gives her a chance to rest. He then knocks out Kiba. Meanwhile, although Neji believes his story proves the existence of fate, Naruto still refuses to give up. Neji attacks Naruto but he keeps getting back up, saying that he knows what it is like to bear something as seemingly unshakable as destiny. With his own chakra gone, he requests the Nine-Tails to give him its own. As its chakra starts flowing through Naruto, Neji is left speechless by the chakra's demonic qualities and its healing Naruto's wounds. Watching veteran ninja of Konoha are also surprised, recognising the fox's aura from twelve years earlier.

Chapter 104

When Naruto is invigorated with enhanced speed and strength by the Nine-Tails' chakra, he attacks Neji. Neji has difficulty keeping up, but is able to match Naruto's attacks. As the Nine-Tails' chakra clashes with Neji's Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven, the two are flung apart. When the dust clears Naruto lies defeated. Neji starts to berate him for thinking he could win when Naruto bursts from the ground beneath him and delivers an uppercut. Seeing that Naruto used a shadow clone to cover the hole he dug, Neji scolds himself for being defeated by Naruto's signature ability. Naruto corrects him by saying that creating clones was always his weak point, so Neji should stop obsessing over inescapable destiny.

Chapter 105

The crowd praises Naruto's victory, with the veteran ninja impressed that he could learn to control the Nine-Tails' power. As Naruto basks in the attention, Neji is taken away to recover. Hiashi comes to visit him to tell him the truth of Hizashi, Neji's father's, death. When relations between Kumo and Konoha became strained and Kumo wanted Hiashi's head, Konoha and the Hyūga clan suggested substituting Hiashi with Hizashi. Hiashi was reluctant to offer up his brother, but Hizashi insisted, wishing to choose his fate at last by dying, not for the clan's benefit, but to save his brother. Neji doubts the validity of the story until Hiashi bows his head for forgiveness. Moved, Neji realises that it is true and abandons his concept of destiny, instead expressing a desire to become strong enough to never lose again.

Chapter 106

The second match of the finals is scheduled to be between Sasuke and Gaara. Since Sasuke is missing the Third Hokage considers disqualifying him, but the Fourth Kazekage suggests postponing the match since so many members of the audience are looking forward to it. The fight between Shino and Kankurō is to take place but Kankurō, having expected the Konoha Crush to begin before his match, forfeits so that he doesn't need to reveal his puppet's modifications. Shikamaru versus Temari takes place instead. When Shikamaru shows little enthusiasm, Temari attacks him.

Chapter 107

Shikamaru hides from Temari in a patch of trees. Ino yells to him to end the fight quickly, but Chōji predicts that Shikamaru will find some reason to forfeit. Temari gets increasingly annoyed because Shikamaru is hiding and not fighting in a conventional way. Shikamaru tries to catch Temari with his shadow but she, while dodging it, realises that it has a limited range. She also reasons that he is hiding in the trees to take advantage of the trees' shadows to extend his range. Knowing that he will only gain more shadows as the battle progresses, Temari tries to end the fight quickly. After meditating on the factors of fight, Shikamaru comes up with a plan and, after avoiding her attacks, tries to catch her again, but she stays out of its range once more.

Chapter 108

Out of his shadow's current range, Temari considers how to defeat Shikamaru. While thinking she realises that he has gained a new shadow source: a parachute made from his shirt that provides some much needed surface area. She avoids the attack and formulates a plan. As she is about to implement it she notices she has finally been captured. Now forced to mimic his movements, Shikamaru lets her see how she was caught: he had been navigating her to the tunnel that Naruto created during his match, where he was hiding his shadow. Having been manipulated for the entire battle, Temari prepares for defeat when Shikamaru forfeits, claiming to have exhausted himself from trying to catch her, fulfilling Chōji's prediction.

Author's Note

“

Recently, DVDs have become prominent at movie rental stores. Certainly, DVDs are nice because unlike videotapes, you can just rent one disc and not have to choose what kind of audio track you want or whether you want subtitles or not until right when you watch it. That's really great, but... DVDs don't include coming attractions before the main feature. That's what I was looking forward to...